About twenty years ago, I had this idea for a story. At the time, my life centered around raising children and keeping up with my job. My idea? I wanted to create a world where women could buy sex. Go to a safe place, nice opulent surroundings, review the lineup, and pick a guy. Pay for fifteen minutes or an afternoon then indulge in mind-blowing pleasure.

Here’s how that comes about in my book—yes, I finally wrote it! The title is Salvation, and it’s Book I of a series. One of the story’s three main characters, Rae Stewart, is at the mall with her friend Syndi:

“Well, things haven’t improved with Greg,” Syndi said. “This new medication they’ve got him on has made it worse. Sometimes I wish I could go hire somebody to fuck me for about two hours and then go away.”

“Why not pick up somebody?”

“I’m too nervous about that—STDs for one thing, the crazy violent factor, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rae said. “I’ve just been taking the risk.”

“Well, that scares me to death. Promise me you won’t do that anymore.”

“And what, be celibate for the rest of my life?”

“No, that would suck. But really, where can you meet someone? It’s like, go to a bar, listen to a bunch of drunk come-ons, never know what kind of jerk you’re going to get. I think we need a place where we can select from a line-up and simply pay for the sex. No strings, no emotions, no complications. USDA Prime, baby. Have it at noon, if that’s when you want it. A whorehouse for women, that’s what we need.”

“Stock it with lusty young men,” Rae enthused, caught up in the idea. “Charge an affordable fee. Sounds great. You could get rich, Syndi.”

It became a game that day, wandering through the mall, choosing men they would select to stock their whorehouse—one for his great butt, one for his youthful charm, another for a damn sexy smile. //

In this near-future tale of social upheaval (set in 2059), sex for hire is legal because the energy it generates actually serves an important purpose. Any pleasure energy feeds the healing network maintained by psions, but it’s sex energy that provides the most. I think most of you would agree that while meditation, good food, or dancing gives us thrills, sex rules supreme in the ‘zing’ department.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished. This new ‘liberty’ culture sends religious extremists over the edge. Their Brotherhood organizes a plan to destroy the sex houses, starting with Rae’s franchise. Their inside man, Josh Carter, is a young zealot who has trained his entire life for this job. He’s focused and primed. The plan is that he’ll get hired into the House of Rae for a job in the gardens. He makes it through the physical and gets to Rae’s office:

She turned her chair to the side, staring through a large one-way mirror toward an interior lobby where people passed by. For a few minutes, she sat there while sweat trickled down my sides.

“It would be a waste, putting you out there in the gardens,” she said. “I think you’d much prefer a different position, which I’m prepared to offer you at a significantly better rate of pay. It would be a position of considerably greater prestige.”

“I—I haven’t qualified for any other lines of work.”

“Oh, I suspect you’re quite qualified for this work, Josh. Perhaps you’ve heard of the work our pleasure partners perform. Important work—I mean, with basic training, anyone can do graywater.”

Pleasure partner. Was that what I thought it was? Maybe I had jumped to conclusions. Misunderstood what she meant. Even with her facing away from me, it seemed as though she was looking at me. Into me.

I suddenly realized there’d been a shortcoming in the mission training. We never anticipated this turn of events. A sick feeling settled in the base of my throat. I had two options and I didn’t want either of them. I could leave. Or I could take what this woman offered.

“After all,” she continued, turning her chair back to face me. “We provide sexual pleasure for women. So of course young, attractive men in good physical condition are our top employment need. Considering your background, we can’t consider you for graywater. As the Deep 12 points out, you’re a security risk. But,” she said, leaning toward me. “Serving as a sex partner wouldn’t be possible for a Brotherhood zealot. Right?” //

Well, you can see that Josh is in trouble right from the start. One of his biggest problems is Rae’s old lover, Lu Haverson, who serves as Rae’s right hand man and top stud of her partner staff. Josh doesn’t pass Lu’s sniff test, and Lu sets out to get the real story behind Josh. That tears open old wounds and starts the conflict raging between Lu and Rae.

I had so much fun watching this story unfold. I’m thrilled with all the four and five-star reviews this book is receiving. No cliffhanger, just 288 pages of sexy adventure!

Thanks for bringing me to your screen today. Stay tuned for more great posts leading up to the release of our new CONQUESTS anthology in July!

For free sexy short stories and more, visit my website at www.lizzieashworth.com. Would love to see your ‘Like’ on my Facebook page. And–I think you’d enjoy looking around my Pinterest boards. There’s one especially for the House of Rae series, Salvation, Book I and Denial, Book II.